Work Begins On Sheffield E.ON Biomass Plant
Work is set to begin on a new E.ON biomass fired renewable energy plant at the end of November in Sheffield.
The new biomass plant is set to be built at Blackburn Meadows near Sheffield, close to the old Tinsley Towers near Meadow Hall. The E.ON biomass plant will generate up to 30MW of electricity. This will be enough to power 40,000 homes and businesses.
The biomass plant will convert recycled waste wood into electricity and the Regional Director for Renewables at E.ON, Dave Rogers said “The plans we’ve announced not only set out the final design of the power station but also confirm our intention to begin construction later this month. As our commitment to Sheffield demonstrates, we’re leading the development of renewable energy in the UK and biomass power stations, such as Blackburn Meadows, form an important part of that low carbon solution”.
Being close to the former Tinsley Cooling Towers, the site has good links to electricity infrastructure and local transport networks.
The MP for Sheffield South East, Clive Betts said “I recently visited Blackburn Meadows and I am pleased that construction of E.ON’s new biomass renewable energy plant is now due to commence. This is great news for the area and will deliver a much needed boost for local jobs”.
E.ON plans to use local businesses to help build the plant and hopes that 30 full-time jobs will be created once the plant becomes operational in 2014.
E.ON supplies power and gas to over 5 million small and medium sized businesses and domestic customers across the UK and already owns and runs a biomass plant near Lockerbie. This is a 44MW plant which generates electricity for around 70,000 homes and businesses.
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Business Electricity Prices Could Rise By Up To 58%
Business electricity prices could rise between 7% and 58% according to forecasters as they face five green taxes.
Government forecasts show that there could be a number of different price rises depending on what happens in the wholesale markets. As a result business electricity prices could increase by between 7% and 58%. It means businesses face enormous uncertainty over future energy costs.
Uncertainty surrounds wholesale gas prices and the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) forecasts that if the cost of gas drops then sources of renewable energy will become more expensive when compared with fossil fuels. As a result green taxes will mean business electricity prices could rise by between 29% and 58%.
On the other hand gas prices could increase – if they do then renewable energy will be more competitive and green taxes may only mean a rise of between 14% and 16% in business electricity prices. However, if gas prices stay the same then forecasters predict business electricity prices will rise by 7% to 20%.
While these government figures seem high, industry leaders believe the actual figures will be even higher.
Energy adviser at the manufacturing company EEF, Roger Salmone, said “We think these estimates look very low. But even these increases on our costs are going to be really quite significant and a big issue to manage. It’s hard to say whether they’re accurate without more details about assumptions. Others have given figures that show the increase could be 70pc. We think it could be an order of magnitude higher than that”.
It would be high energy users such as hi-tech steel manufacturers which would be worst hit by price rises and there are concerns that these energy price increases will force such businesses abroad. However, the Government has plans to introduce tax breaks or exemptions from the rules to ensure these businesses remain competitive and don’t migrate abroad. At the moment consultations with industry are being carried out and an announcement will be made in the autumn.
A DECC spokesman said the government will help big industry. He said “There’s no point in shutting down our industry and sending it all abroad”.
Meanwhile the director of business environment at the CBI, Rhian Kelly said “Given the crucial role they can play in delivering a low-carbon economy, we must ensure companies that could be most disadvantaged by changes to energy policy are given the support they need to remain in the UK”.
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Npower Customers Start To Benefit From Hometeam 50 Cash Back Scheme
Customers of the energy supplier npower could be as much as £90 better off this month after signing up to the company’s hometeam 50 cash back scheme a year ago.
It’s a year since npower launched its boiler and central heating care product – hometeam 50, which pays customers if they haven’t had a call out over the course of their 12 month contract and means customers will now start receiving their cashback.
The npower hometeam 50 product offers customers 50% of their annual fee back if they haven’t had to call out engineers during their 12 month contract.
Utility Exchange reported on the scheme last year and it means hundreds of customers who have taken out npower’s hometeam 50 product will start to receive their cash back, which could be as much as £90.
In a press release npower says it calculates it will pay out around £718,000 this year. The energy provider said an estimated 500 customers are expected to get some cash back this month and most of those will receive £90.
The hometeam 50 scheme includes a yearly boiler service so if customers do not need to call an engineer they enjoy the cost of a service in their service plan and will also receive 50% cash back.
The npower hometeam 50 manager, Emily Stagg said “It makes sense to give something back to our customers if they don’t use the product. With hometeam 50, you have the peace of mind that you are covered should anything go wrong. No other provider offers this and that’s why we have had a significant uptake in the last year”.
So if you have taken out hometeam 50 with npower and not had to call out an engineer, you should receive some cash back shortly. As domestic gas and electricity prices increase along with business electricity prices and gas prices, a bit of cash back from one of the energy suppliers will come as a welcome surprise for many.
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Expert Says North Sea Tax Could Cost Offshore Oil & Gas Industry Over £50m
An energy expert has said that the new North Sea tax imposed by the Chancellor in the March Budget could cost the offshore industry over £50 million.
Professor Alex Kemp, Professor of Petroleum economics at Aberdeen University, said the North Sea tax which should generate £10 billion from the oil and gas industry over the next five years could damage the offshore industry for years to come.
Utility Exchange reported recently that North Sea oil and gas producers warned that the new tax could mean thousands of jobs are lost. These claims had been dismissed by some as “scare-mongering” but Prof Kemp’s report now adds weight to their claims.
While the Prime Minister has backed Mr Osborne’s new tax, he said they would continue to talk with representatives from the oil and gas sector. However, Mr Osborne is being pressed to look at Professor Kemp’s report.
Prof Kemp said the number of new offshore developments in the North Sea could be cut by over 35% in the next 30 years and that this was down to the new North Sea tax. He said there were around 400 undeveloped fields in the North Sea and companies may now decide they are not economically viable. In fact, Utility Exchange reported recently that Statoil had stopped work on its North Sea projects as a result of the new tax.
Professor Kemp said UK oil and gas production could drop by 2.25 billion barrels because of the new tax. Furthermore, he said that if the cost of a barrel of oil was at $90 then the total expenditure in the offshore industry would fall by £52.2 billion over the course of the next 30 years.
Professor Kemp said “We are talking about a lot of oil and gas that will not be produced here that we would then have to input”.
He added “If we leave things as they are this effect will go a long way into the future – it will not just be with us for a few years before everything goes back to normal. I am concerned that the Budget only looks at the next five years, with a plan to get as much money out of the industry as possible”.
The economics director at Oil and Gas UK, Mike Tholen, said “This kind of impact is wholly expected following the sudden change which resulted in producers paying between 62-81% tax on UK oil and gas production. The tax change has damaged the industry’s confidence and trust in the tax regime and that trust will take a long time to rebuild”.
He added “Oil and Gas UK can only work with the government to find ways to minimise the effects on investment, production, energy security and jobs”.
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Cap emissions before energy bill
Advising business leaders at a Clean Energy Forum this week, the White House’s top climate and energy adviser, Carol Browner categorically stated that it would be a “big mistake” for Congress to approve an energy bill this year without first placing a cap on greenhouse emissions – “I think you have to keep these programs coordinated because they do impact with each other”
The Reuters report yesterday advised that with climate change legislation facing a hard road to passage in the Senate, some lawmakers are suggesting that the chamber should instead focus on moving less controversial legislation just supporting renewable energy.
Both the House and Senate bills revolve around the cap-and-trade system which limits carbon emissions whereby companies would need permits for every ton of carbon pollution they release into the atmosphere – then utilities and factories which do not use all their permits can trade, or sell them, to those companies who need more.
Discussing the issue, Ms. Browner played down the significance of having a climate change bill approved by both chambers and signed into law before the international climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen in December – where leaders will try to form an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol to fight climate change.
“We will manage in Copenhagen wherever we are in the process” she said.
The House earlier this year passed legislation that would limit greenhouse emissions by requiring companies to acquire permits for the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere.
Any climate legislation in the Senate is likely to come across a battle seeing as lawmakers from heavy industrial states in both parties have already raised concerns about burdening companies with additional energy costs.
Source;
e-news @ newenergyfinance.com
link http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59657620091007
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E.ON launches Two new Energy Tariffs
Gas and electricity supplier E.ON has today launched two new energy tariffs – however neither is good enough to make the energy supplier top the best buy tables for dual fuel customers, reports energychoices.co.uk.
E.ON Effective date 08.10.2009 Details Launch of Track and Save v3
E.ON Effective date 08.10.2009 Details Launch of Fixed Price Version 4 (to 1 December)
The energy comparison site suggests that these are ok tariffs – but nothing spectacular.
Tariff; Track and Save v3 guarantees customers that their gas and electricity prices will be cheaper than British Gas’s standard tariff – for existing E.ON customers – until 1 February 2011, and will also be free from exit penalties.
Tariff: Fixed Price v4 offers households the ability to fix their gas and electricity prices until 1 December 2010 – There is also no exit fee so customers can switch to an alternative energy supplier without penalty at any time.
Further features include the ability to manage their account online, to pay by monthly direct debit, cash or cheque for either tariff, and customers will also receive Tesco Clubcard points (where applicable) – However, neither tariff is available to prepayment meter customers or households on a restricted hours tariff, for example Economy 7.
Sources;
Energychoices.co.uk/ Energy News
http://www.energychoices.co.uk/eon-unveils-new-fixed-and-new-tracker-energy-tariffs-8102009.html
energypricebeater.com/ Latest Price Updates
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E.ON confirms Coal Plant holt
As reported by news.bbc.co.uk Energy company E.ON has confirmed that their controversial plans to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, have been put on hold for up to three years, stating that it would be delayed until at least 2016, and claimed this is because electricity demand has fallen during the global recession.
A spokesperson for E.ON – who provides gas and electricity along with renewable energy to UK homes and businesses – stated that the economic downturn had:
“Pushed back the need for a new plant in the UK to around 2016 because of the reduction in demand for electricity…
And, continued by saying:
… As a group, we remain committed to the development of cleaner coal and carbon capture and storage (CCS), which we believe have a key role to play alongside renewables, gas and nuclear, in tackling the global threat of climate change, while ensuring affordability and security of energy supplies” .
The Kingsnorth site has become a high-profile target for environmental protests by groups arguing that a new plant would only increase carbon emissions and affect climate change, where upon hearing the news, Greenpeace acknowledged E.ON’s decision and said this was “good news for the climate”.
The plant still needs to be granted permission from the government, and would be the UK’s first coal-fired power station to be built for 30 years, if it was agreed.
Also campaigning against the new plant is Andy Atkins, executive director of environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth, who said that the station would have “seriously undermined the UK’s credibility on climate change” and that “The government must now show real leadership and say no to all new coal plants which aren’t fitted with 100% carbon capture and storage from day one”
Defying E.ONs insistence that their decision has been determined by the downturn, Oxfam’s campaigns director Thomas Schultz-Jagow, points out that the announcement has come after “Thousands of campaigners raised the alarm about this proposal”
Source;
Bbc.co.uk/News/UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8296076.stm
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Scottish Power losses CCS Funding
Electricity and Natural Gas company, Scottish Power – a subsidiary of the Spanish utility Iberdrola – has lost out on funding for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) research, reports energyhelpline.com.
The energy firms Longannet power plant in Scotland was nominated to receive a share of £1 billion from the European Commission designated to help with the development of CCS technology – which is intended to reduce harmful emissions subsequently produced by burning coal, but was unsuccessful in its bid.
Nonetheless, officials remain hopeful that the power station will instead receive funding from the UK government through a CCS competition which has been set up by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The World Wildlife Fund acknowledged Longannet power plant as being the best place in the UK for CCS funding, and responding to the missed opportunity, the funds director, Richard Dixon stated:
“We sincerely hope it will get some form of support to properly test this technology soon, whether it is from Europe or as a winner of the UK government’s own CCS competition”
He also continued by saying that Scotland has a good position in becoming a world leader in the development of CCS technology.
Source;
Energyhelpline.com/ Gas and Electricity News
http://www.energyhelpline.com/news/article.aspx?aaid=19392387&y=2009&m=10&w=1&pid=1
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Morrison Utility Services SGN
Morrison Utility Services, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading utility service contractors, has won a major three year contract to provide first call emergency response services to Southern Gas Networks (SGN), the UK’s second largest gas distribution company whose networks provide natural gas to 5.7 million customers across Scotland and in the south and south east of England.
Under the terms of the agreement, Morrison Utility Services will respond to emergency calls for internal and external gas escapes, gas meter fault correction and meter replacements, and the value of the contract has been estimated to be worth £18 million for the three years, it also includes an option for SGN to extend for a further year.
Work on the contract has commenced and around 100 service engineers will now provide an on-call service to SGN – although Morrison Utility Services was the previous contractor to provide the on-call service, they were awarded the contract following a competitive tender process which had taken place this Summer.
Source;
Utilityweek.co.uk/ News/ Utility Engineering
ttp://www.utilityweek.co.uk/news/uk/utility-engineering/morrison-retains-emergency-res.php
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Energy Big Six Hit the Headlines
The UK’s “Big Six” Energy suppliers, which includes British Gas, npower, E.ON and EDF, are making a pile of profit from the British public states national newspaper The Independent, who claims this has to be curbed.
Energy suppliers are still failing to pass on the massive savings in gas and electricity prices, after hiking the prices up by 42% last year – this equates to around £382 per household – when the companies blamed the high wholesale cost of gas and electricity, however, since then, these wholesale costs have halved – but utility bills have been reduced by just 4%.
Independent energy analyst, David Hunter told The Independent that the continued failure of suppliers passing on the massive reductions in energy price – is approaching scandal proportions.
He continued by saying that some suppliers have in fact made small reductions to niche tariffs recently, but deemed these as “token discounts” which do not change the overall trend.
The newspaper has now called on the “big six” gas and electricity suppliers to lower their energy prices by 10%, amounting to about £125 per year for each household, and is urging ministers to remove the licences of suppliers who do not pass on lower wholesale prices to the consumer.
Source;
Energychoices.co.uk/ Energy News
http://www.energychoices.co.uk/energy-bills-are-a-scandal-07102009.html